Netflix stock soars in fourth quarter

The company’s stock climbed $43.60 to close at $146.86 as investors celebrated a fourth-quarter earnings report highlighted by accelerated growth in Netflix’s Internet video service.

The 42 percent increase in Netflix’s market value marked the stock’s biggest single-day gain since Netflix went public more than a decade ago when investors were still shunning Internet businesses in the wake of the dot-com bust.

The last time Netflix’s stock came close to soaring like this came in October 2002 when shares rose nearly 36 percent in a single session. That gain, though, wasn’t quite as impressive because Netflix’s stock closed at a split-adjusted $3.55 that day.

All told, Netflix now has more than 33 million streaming customers worldwide, including 27.1 million in the U.S. CEO Reed Hastings believes Netflix eventually will have 60 million to 90 million U.S. subscribers, although he hasn’t said how long it might take to reach that goal.